Since its January announcement, no word, screenshot, nor gunshot was heard on the fifth installment of the Wild ARMs series- until now, revealed by the latest issue of the Japanese magazine, Famitsu. After a half-year hiatus, there are finally details on the character cast and the combat system to be featured in Wild ARMs: The Vth Vanguard.

According to Famitsu, the Vth Vanguard returns to the roots of the first Wild ARMs game by revolving around three main characters and once again taking place in the world of Filgaia. The first of these characters is Dean Stark, a 16-year-old boy who was raised in a quiet town and dreams about becoming a 'Golem Hunter'. The second member of the cast is the mysterious Avalil Van Freul, a twenty-year-old girl that fell from the skies in the left arm of a Golem and only remembers an unusual phrase: 'Johnny Appleseed'. Finally, revealed with no preamble or any background, the last character is 16-year-old Rebecca Streisand.

Unlike the first Wild ARMs game, however, instead of starting with a single character scenario like the first three games in the series, Vth Vanguard takes a tab from the last Wild ARMs game and players will begin with all three together. Similarly, like Wild ARMs 4: The Fourth Detonator, the hybrid HEX combat system returns along with the action elements involved in dungeon trekking (i.e. jumping, sliding, and an ability to slow down the environment).

For a game that has seen little to no media, Famitsu reports that the game is about 50% complete and is slated for a Japanese release this winter. The Vth Vanguard is supposedly the last Playstation 2 entry of the series.